Train vs. truck crash snarls traffic, stirs memories

Thursday, October 29, 2009

By KATHY CLEVELAND

Staff Writer

MILFORD – The crash last week between a train and a truck at the intersection of Elm Street and 101 in west Milford could have been a lot worse, and no one knows that better than Peter Leishman.

Leishman, the owner of the Milford-Bennington Railroad, was in the train’s caboose as the train was heading backward toward Wilton on Oct. 22 when it hit the long low end of a Kent’s Service Station tow truck, forcing the caboose up and over it.

Police have cited the tow truck driver, Eric Macias of Milford, for failing to obey the train signals and failing to yield to the approaching train. Leishman, a Peterborough state representative and former Milford selectman, was slightly injured.

But 13 years ago he wasn’t so lucky after his train hit a 14-wheel dump truck on Granite State Concrete property in Milford. The spectacular train-truck accident flipped the truck over twice and sent the caboose into the air. Leishman, who was standing on the caboose’s platform, flew to the other end of the car. He remained unconscious for 13 hours after the crash and spent five days in the hospital recuperating. The truck driver was also injured and airlifted to a Boston hospital.

Last week’s accident happened at about 3:45 p.m. and traffic was backed up for hours until the vehicles could be separated and removed. Dozens of spectators parked their cars and gathered along the roads taking photos until late in the evening.

This time, Leishman was inside and had a few seconds to brace himself and activate the emergency brake valve.

“I saw (the truck driver), and I knew he wasn’t going to stop. I had a few seconds to prepare, but it was not pleasant,” he said.

Leishman said he saw a motorcyclist parked in the right travel lane waving at the truck and said some witnesses he talked to wondered if the truck driver was distracted by a road rage incident.

“The poor guy in the truck jumped out and said he didn’t see the lights,” said Leishman.

The train was only going about 7 mph, he said, but with a dozen cars, each weighing 35 tons when empty, it was too heavy to stop in time to avoid the truck.

“That’s a lot of steel moving. You can’t stop on a dime,” he said.

Leishman was taken to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua where he was treated and released. Macias and train engineer David Raymond of Allenstown were not injured.

The Milford-Bennington Railroad brings crushed aggregate material from Wilton to Granite State Concrete in Milford, a 5-mile trip.

Leishman, 52, started the railroad in 1992. Since then, he said, his train has had eight accidents at rail crossings, six of them at the Elm Street-Route 101 intersection.

Milford police and the state Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Rail and Transit investigated the accident.

Christopher “Kit” Carson, administrator for the Bureau of Rail and Transit, said the intersection has all the signs and signals it should have, but it is “a very challenging intersection, very difficult to control.”

Vehicles coming from Route 101 can turn right onto Elm Street, go straight onto North River Road or turn left and head toward Wilton.

There is a stop light at the intersection, and Carson said no right turn is allowed when the light is red if the train signals are activated.

“State law requires a vehicle to stop for the flashing red lights and bells,” said Milford Police Chief Fred Douglas.

Leishman estimated that there is between $50,000 and $100,000 worth of damage to the caboose and adjacent rail car.